Archer Sharvari can herald 'new gen' archers, says coach

THE state of Maharashtra, which has been producing archery exponents, may have another talent in the making. Sharvari Shende, 16, took the archery arena in Grant Park in Winnipeg, Canada by storm, by defeating South Korea's Kim Yewon, in a tie-breaker after a long final tie in the U18 women's recurve category on Sunday.

- CHANDRA PRABHU @ Chennai

With this gold, Shende became the third Indian woman to win an U18 world recurve title, with Deepika Kumari doing it first in 2011, followed by Komalika Bari in 2021. One person who has seen her grow from day one is her first coach from the Swarajya Academy of Archery in Pimpri-Chinchwad and former national-level archer Kunal Taware. He recalled his feelings watching his ward in the final. "Frankly speaking, I did not expect her to defeat her. The Koreans are the strongest in this sport. But only we know that. Archers